HIGH LYSINE DERIVATIVES OF ALPHA-HORDOTHIONIN

Abstract: Derivatives of alpha -hordothionin made by position-specific substitution with lysine residues provide lysine enrichment while retaining the antifungal activity of the parent compound.

Description: HIGH LYSINE DERIVATIVES OF ALPHA-HORDOTHIONIN TECHNICAL FIELD This invention relates to derivatives of α-hordothionin which provide higher percentages of lysine while retaining the antifungal functionality of hordothionins. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Disease resistance is an important objective of the genetic engineering of crop plants. Numerous fungi and bacteria are serious pests of common agricultural crops. One method of controlling diseases has been to apply antimicrobial organic or semiorganic chemicals to crops. This method has numerous, art-recognized problems. A more recent method of control of microorganism pests has been the use of biological control organisms which are typically natural competitors or inhibitors of the troublesome microorganisms. However, it is difficult to apply biological control organisms to large areas, and even more difficult to cause those living organisms to remain in the treated area for an extended period. Still more recently, techniques in recombinant DNA have provided the opportunity to insert into plant cells cloned genes which express antimicrobial compounds. This technology has given rise to additional concerns about eventual microbial resistance to well-known, naturally occurring antimicrobials, particularly in the face of heavy selection pressure, which may occur in some areas. Thus, a continuing effort is underway to express naturally occurring antimicrobial compounds in plant cells directly by translation of a single structural gene. However, the use of such techniques gives rise to further problems. Crop plants have more important things to do than fight disease. They are sources of sugars, starches, proteins, oils, fibers, and other raw materials. Genetic engineers would also like to modify, and often to enhance, the production of those natural plant products. Unfortunately, plant cells can only produce large quantities of a few cellular components at a time. If they are producing high levels of storage proteins, it is difficult for them to also produce high levels of antifungal compounds. Thus, genetic engineers face a quandary in designing advanced plant systems with existing molecules for protein quality enhancement and disease resistance which require concurrent high-level expression of multiple genes. Brief Description of the Drawing Figures Figure 1 is a graph of antimicrobial performance of various compounds discussed herein against S. sclerotiorum. Figure 2 is a graph of antimicrobial performance of various compounds discussed herein against A. flavus. Figure 3 is a graph of antimicrobial performance of various compounds discussed herein against F. graminearum. Figure 4 is a graph of antimicrobial performance of various compounds discussed herein against F. moniliforme. DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION It has now been determined that one class of compounds, the α-hordothionins, can be modified to enhance their content of lysine while maintaining their antifungal activity. These hordothionin derivatives can be expressed to simultaneously enhance both resistance to fungal diseases and lysine content of the plant. α-hordothionin is a 45-amino acid protein which has been well characterized. It can be isolated from seeds of barley (Hordeum vulgare) and even in its native form is especially rich in arginine and lysine residues, containing 5 residues (10%) of each. The amino acid sequence is as provided in SEQUENCE I.D. No. 1. It has powerful antifungal properties. Initial work to enhance the lysine content of this protein provided a high lysine derivative as indicated in SEQUENCE I.D. No. 2. However, it was impossible to predict the ultimate effect of this seemingly trivial substitution on the tertiary structure and folding of the protein, and subsequent bioassays determined that this derivative did not fold to a biologically active species i i vitro. In addition, both tertiary structure and folding are critical to the stability and adequate expression of the protein ijri vivo, and both were absent in this compound. Therefore, further analysis and functional modeling of the wild-type compound was undertaken to determine whether substitutions could be made without disrupting biological activity. Although the crystal structure of crambin, a small protein of similar size and structure, has been reported, such crystal structures have not previously been available for hordothionin or even related compounds such as purothionin and viscotoxin. We undertook to develop such structural information. Three-dimensional modeling of the protein led us to believe that the arginine residue at position 10 was critical to retention of the appropriate 3-dimensional structure and possible folding through hydrogen bond interactions with the C-terminal residue of the protein. A lysine substitution at that point with its shorter side chains could not hydrogen bond at the same time to both the serine residue at the 2 position and to the C-terminus while maintaining the backbone structure which we had predicted. The synthetic peptide having this substitution could not be made to fold correctly, which supported this analysis. Conservation of the arginine residue at position 10 provided a protein which folded correctly, had the sequence indicated in SEQUENCE I.D. No. 3, and exhibited antifungal activity in a bioassay. Comparison of the structure of hordothionin with that of the loosely related (48% homologous, 30% identical) protein crambin showed that thionin had a disulfide bond linking the cysteines at positions 12 and 29 which was not bridging the corresponding positions in crambin. Accordingly, replacement of the cysteine at position 12 of thionin with lysine and replacement of the cysteine at position 29 with threonine to produce a protein having the sequence indicated in SEQUENCE I.D. No. 4 - A - was found not to disrupt the 3-dimensional structure of the protein, as evidenced by an energy content which was determined to be indistinguishable from that of the native protein. Further analysis of substitutions which would not alter the 3-dimenεional structure of the molecule led to replacement of Asparagine-11, Glutamine-22 and Threonine-41 with lysine residues with virtually no steric hindrance. The resulting compound had the sequence indicated in SEQUENCE I.D. No. 5, containing 29% lysine residues. In addition, it was determined that by replacement of the serine residue at position 2 with aspartic acid, the arginine at position 10 could be replaced with lysine while permitting the needed hydrogen bonding with the C-terminuε, providing a compound of the sequence indicated in SEQUENCE I.D. No. 6. It should be appreciated that that these substitutions would be effective and acceptable could not have been predicted by examination of the linear sequence of the native thionin protein. Other combinations of these substitutions were also made, providing proteins having the sequences indicated in sequence i.d. no. 7 and sequence i.d. no. 8. accordingly, this invention provides proteins having the sequence of sequence i.d. no. 9 wherein the amino acid residues at one or more of positions 5, 10, 11, 12, 17, 19, 22, 30 and 41 are lysine, and the remainder of the residues at those positions are the residues at the corresponding positions in sequence i.d. no. 1, provided that the residue at position 30 is threonine when the residue at position 12 is lysine and cysteine otherwise, and the residue at position 2 is aspartic acid when the residue at position 10 is lysine and serine otherwise. although the native hordothionin is relatively lysine rich, a storage protein with 10% lysine residues (by number) cannot be expressed at high enough levels to obtain total protein lysine contents which are sufficient to obviate the need for lysine supplementation in poultry and swine feeds, these compounds are significantly more lysine enriched, and can be made to contain nearly thirty percent lysine residues, without such enhanced lysine contents, it is impossible to eliminate the need for lysine supplementation of feeds. this invention thus also provides an important method for enhancing the lysine content of a plant cell or a plant, comprising the step of causing one or more proteins according to this invention to be expressed in the cell or plant. synthesis of the compounds was performed according to methods of peptide synthesis which are well known in the art and thus constitute no part of this invention. in vitro, we have synthesized the compounds on an applied bioεystems model 431a peptide synthesizer using fastmoc m chemistry involving hbtu [2-( lh-benzotriazol-1-yl )-l,l,3 ,3-tetramethyluronium hexafluorophoεphate, as published by rao et al., int. j. pep, prot. res. 0:508-515 (1992). peptides were cleaved following standard protocols and purified by reverse phase chromatography using standard methods, the amino acid sequence of each peptide was confirmed by automated edman degradation on an applied bioεyεtems 477a protein sequencer/120a pth analyzer, more preferably, however, the compoundε of this invention are synthesized in vivo by bacterial or plant cells which have been transformed by insertion of an expression cassette containing a synthetic gene which when transcribed and tranεlated yields the desired compound. such empty expression cassetteε, providing appropriate regulatory sequences for plant or bacterial expression of the desired sequence, are also well-known, and the nucleotide sequence for the synthetic gene, either rna or dna, can readily be derived from the amino acid sequence for the protein using standard reference texts. Preferably, such synthetic genes will employ plant-preferred codonε to enhance expression of the desired protein. Industrial Applicability The following description further exemplifieε the compoεitions of this invention and the methods of making and using them. However, it will be understood that other methods, known by those of ordinary skill in the art to be equivalent, can also be employed. Plants The polypeptides employed in thiε invention can be effectively applied to plants afflicted with susceptible microorganisms by any convenient means, including spray, creams, dust or other formulation common to the antimicrobial arts. The compound can also be incorporated systemically into the tiεεueε of a treated plant so that in the course of infesting the plant the pathogens will be exposed to antimicrobial amounts of the compound of this invention. One method of doing this is to incorporate the compound in a non- phytotoxic vehicle which is adapted for systemic administration to the susceptible plants. This method is commonly employed with fungicidal materials such as captan and is well within the purview of one of ordinary skill in the art of plant fungicide formulation. However, since the genes which code for these compounds can be inserted into an appropriate expresεion cassette and introduced into cells of a suεceptible plant εpecies, an especially preferred embodiment of this method involves inserting into the genome of the plant a DNA sequence coding for a compound of this invention in proper reading frame, together with transcription initiator and promoter εequenceε active in the plant. Transcription and translation of the dna sequence under control of the regulatory sequenceε causes expression of the protein sequence at levels which provide an antimicrobial amount of the protein in the tisεueε of the plant which are normally infected by the pathogenε. the plant iε preferably a plant εuεceptible to infection and damage by one or more of fuεarium graminearum, fusarium moniliforme, aspergillus flavuε, alternaria longipes, sclerotinia εclerotiorum, and sclerotinia trifoliorum. these include corn (zea mays) and sorghum (sorghum bicolor) . however, this is not to be construed as limiting, inasmuch as these two specieε are among the most difficult commercial crops to reliably tranεform and regenerate, and theεe pathogens also infect certain other crops. thus the methods of thiε invention are readily applicable via conventional techniqueε to numerous plant species, if they are found to be susceptible to the plant pathogens listed hereinabove, including, without limitation, species from the genera allium, antirrhinum, arabidopsis, arachis, aεparaguε, atropa, avena, beta, braεsica, browallia, capsicum, cicer, cicla, citrullus, citrus, cucumis, cucurbita, datura daucus, digitalis, fagopyrum, fragaria, geranium, glycine, gossypium, helianthus, hordeum, hemerocalliε, lactuca, lenε, lolium, lotus, lycopersicon, majorana, manihot, medicago, nasturtium, nicotiana, oryza, pelargonium, persea, petunia, phaseolus, pisum, ranunculus, raphanuε, ricinuε, saccharum, secale, εenecio, setaria, solanu , spinacia, trifolium, triticum, bromus, cichoriu , hyoεcyamuε, linum, nemeεia, panicum, onobrychiε, pennisetum, salpiglosεiε, εinapiε, trigonella, and vigna. preferred plantε that are to be tranεformed according to the methods of this invention are cereal crops, including maize, rye, barley, wheat, sorghum, oats, millet, rice, triticale, sunflower, alfalfa, rapeseed and soybean. synthetic dna sequences can then be prepared which code for the appropriate sequence of amino acidε, and this synthetic dna sequence can be inserted into an appropriate plant expreεεion caεεette. likewiεe, numerouε plant expression cassetteε and vectors are well known in the art. by the term "expreεsion cassette" is meant a complete set of control sequences including initiation, promoter and termination sequences which function in a plant cell when they flank a structural gene in the proper reading frame, expression casεetteε frequently and preferably contain an assortment of restriction sites suitable for cleavage and insertion of any desired structural gene. it is important that the cloned gene have a start codon in the correct reading frame for the structural sequence. in addition, the plant expresεion caεεette preferably includes a εtrong conεtitutive promoter εequence at one end to cauεe the gene to be tranεcribed at a high frequency, and a poly-a recognition εequence at the other end for proper proceεεing and tranεport of the meεεenger rna. an example of such a preferred (empty) expresεion caεεette into which the cdna of the preεent invention can be inεerted is the pphi 14 plaεmid developed by beach et al. of pioneer hi-bred international, inc., Johnston, ia, as discloεed in u.s. patent application no. 07/785,648, filed October 31, 1991. highly preferred plant expression cassetteε will be designed to include one or more εelectable marker genes, such as kanamycin reεiεtance or herbicide tolerance geneε. by the term "vector" herein iε meant a dna εequence which is able to replicate and expresε a foreign gene in a hoεt cell. typically, the vector haε one or more endonucleaεe recognition εiteε which may be cut in a predictable fashion by use of the appropriate enzyme. εuch vectorε are preferably conεtructed to include additional structural gene sequences imparting antibiotic or herbicide resiεtance, which then serve aε markerε to identify and εeparate transformed cells, preferred markers/selection agentε include kanamycin, chloroεulfuron, phoεphonothricin, hygro ycin and methotrexate . a cell in which the foreign genetic material in a vector iε functionally expreεsed has been "transformed" by the vector and iε referred to as a "transformant. " a particularly preferred vector iε a plaεmid, by which is meant a circular double-εtranded dna molecule which is not a part of the chromosomeε of the cell. aε mentioned above, both genomic and cdna encoding the gene of intereεt may be uεed in thiε invention. the vector of intereεt may alεo be conεtructed partially from a cdna clone and partially from a genomic clone, when the gene of interest has been isolated, genetic constructε are made which contain the neceεεary regulatory εequenceε to provide for efficient expression of the gene in the hoεt cell, according to this invention, the genetic conεtruct will contain (a) a first genetic εequence coding for the protein or trait of intereεt and (b) one or more regulatory εequenceε operably linked on either εide of the structural gene of interest. typically, the regulatory sequenceε will be εelected from the group comprising of promoters and terminators. the regulatory sequenceε may be from autologous or heterologous εources. promoters that may be used in the genetic sequence include noε, ocs and camv promoters. an efficient plant promoter that may be used is an overproducing plant promoter. overproducing plant promoters that may be used in this invention include the promoter of the small sub-unit (ss) of the ribuloεe-1,5-biphoεphate carboxylase from soybean (berry-lowe et al., j. molecular and app. gen., 3^483-498 (1982)), and the promoter of the cholorophyll a-b binding protein. these two promoters are known to be light-induced, in eukaryotic plant cells (see, for example, genetic engineering of plants, an agricultural perspective, a. cashmore, pelham, new york, 1983, pp. 29-38, g. coruzzi et al. , j . biol. chem. , 258:1399 (1983), and p. dunsmuir, et al., j. molecular and app. gen., _2:285 (1983)). the expreεεion cassette comprising the structural gene for the protein of this invention operably linked to the desired control sequenceε can be ligated into a εuitable cloning vector. in general, plaεmid or viral (bacteriophage) vectors containing replication and control sequences derived from specieε compatible with the hoεt cell are uεed. the cloning vector will typically carry a replication origin, aε well aε specific geneε that are capable of providing phenotypic selection markers in tranεformed hoεt cellε. typically, genes conferring resistance to antibioticε or εelected herbicides are uεed. after the genetic material iε introduced into the target cellε, succesεfully tranεformed cellε and/or colonies of cellε can be iεolated by εelection on the baεiε of these markerε. typically, an intermediate hoεt cell will be uεed in the practice of thiε invention to increase the copy number of the cloning vector, with an increased copy number, the vector containing the gene of interest can be isolated in significant quantities for introduction into the desired plant cellε. host cells that can be used in the practice of thiε invention include prokaryotes, including bacterial hoεtε εuch as <e. coli, ε>. typhimurium, and serratia marcescens. eukaryotic hosts such as yeast or filamentous fungi may also be uεed in thiε invention. εince theεe hoεtε are alεo microorganiεms, it will be eεεential to enεure that plant promoters which do not cause expreεεion of the protein in bacteria are uεed in the vector. the iεolated cloning vector will then be introduced into the plant cell using any convenient technique, including electroporation (in protoplastε) , retroviruεeε, bombardment, and microinjection into cellε from monocotyledonouε or dicotyledonouε plantε in cell or tiεεue culture to provide tranεformed plant cellε containing aε foreign dna at leaεt one copy of the dna εequence of the plant expreεεion caεsette. preferably, the monocotyledonous εpecieε will be εelected from maize, εorghum, wheat or rice, and the dicotyledonouε species will be selected from soybean, alfalfa, rapeseed, εunflower or tomato, uεing known techniqueε, protoplasts can be regenerated and cell or tisεue culture can be regenerated to form whole fertile plantε which carry and express the gene for a protein according to this invention. accordingly, a highly preferred embodiment of the present invention is a transformed maize plant, the cellε of which contain as foreign dna at least one copy of the dna εequence of an expreεsion caεεette of thiε invention. finally, thiε invention provideε methodε of imparting reεiεtance to diεeaεeε cauεed by microorganisms selected from fusarium graminearum, fuεarium moniliforme, diplodia maydis , colletototrichum graminicola, verticillium alboatrum, phytophthora megaspermae f.sp. glycinea, macrophomina phaseolina, diaporthe phaseolorum caulivora, sclerotinia sclerotiorum, sclerotinia trifoliorum, aspergilluε flavus to plants of a suεceptible taxon, comprising the steps of: a) culturing cells or tiεεueε from at leaεt one plant from the taxon, b) introducing into the cellε or tiεεue culture at leaεt one copy of an expression caεεette compriεing a εtructural gene for one or more of the compoundε of thiε invention, operably linked to plant regulatory εequences which cause the expression of the compound or compounds in the cellε, and c) regenerating diεeaεe-resistant whole plantε from the cell or tiεεue culture, once whole plantε have been obtained, they can be εexually or clonally reproduced in εuch manner that at least one copy of the sequence provided by the expreεεion caεsette iε preεent in the cellε of progeny of the reproduction. alternatively, once a single transformed plant haε been obtained by the foregoing recombinant dna method, conventional plant breeding methodε can be used to transfer the εtructural gene for the compound of this invention and asεociated regulatory εequenceε via croεεing and backcroεεing. εuch intermediate methodε will compriεe the further εtepε of a) εexually crossing the disease-resistant plant with a plant from the diseaεe-εuεceptible taxon; b) recovering reproductive material from the progeny of the cross; and c) growing disease-resistant plants from the reproductive material. where deεirable or necessary, the agronomic characteristicε of the susceptible taxon can be εubεtantially preεerved by expanding thiε method to include the further steps of repetitively: a) backcrosεing the diεeaεe-reεiεtant progeny with diεease-suεceptible plantε from the εuεceptible taxon; and b) selecting for expreεεion of antimicrobial activity (or an aεεociated marker gene) among the progeny of the backcroεε, until the desired percentage of the characteristics of the εuεceptible taxon are preεent in the progeny along with the gene imparting antimicrobial activity. by the term "taxon" herein iε meant a unit of botanical claεεification of genus or lower. it thus includes genus, specieε, cultivarε, varieties, variants, and other minor taxo- nomic groups which lack a conεiεtent nomenclature. it will alεo be appreciated by thoεe of ordinary εkill that the plant vectorε provided herein can be incorporated into agrobacterium tumefaciens, which can then be uεed to tranεfer the vector into εuεceptible plant cellε, primarily from dicotyledonouε species. thus, this invention provideε a method for imparting antimicrobial activity and diseaεe reεiεtance in agrobacterium tumefacienε-εuεceptible dicotyledonouε plantε in which the expreεεion caεεette iε introduced into the cellε by infecting the cellε with agrobacterium tumefacienε, a plaεmid of which haε been modified to include a plant expression casεette of thiε invention. Human and veterinary pharmaceutical use Thiε invention alεo provideε methodε of treating and preventing infection by εusceptible organisms in a human or lower animal host in need of such treatment, which method compriseε adminiεtration to the human or lower animal hoεt in need of εuch treatment a therapeutically effective amount of a polypeptide of thiε invention or a compoεition containing one or more of the polypeptideε. The polypeptides of the present invention may be administered parenterally , by inhalation spray, rectally or topically in doεage unit formulationε containing conventional nontoxic pharmaceutically acceptable carrierε, adjuvantε and vehicleε aε deεired. The term parenteral aε uεed herein includeε εubcutaneouε, intravenouε, intramuεcular, intraarticular and intrathecal injection and infuεion techniqueε. Aε with other polypeptideε, the polypeptideε of thiε invention are not known to be active orally. Total daily doεe of the compoundε of thiε invention adminiεtered to a hoεt in εingle or divided doεeε may be in amountε, for example, of from 1 to 2000 mg/kg body weight daily and more usually 50 to 500 mg/kg. Dosage unit compositionε may contain εuch amountε or fractionε or εubmultipleε thereof aε appropriate to make up the daily doεe. It will be underεtood, however, that the εpecific doεe level for any particular patient will depend upon a variety of factorε including the activity of the εpecific compound employed, the age, body weight, general health, sex, diet, time of administration, route of adminiεtration, rate of excretion, drug combination and the εeverity of the particular diεeaεe undergoing therapy. Thiε invention alεo provideε pharmaceutical compoεitionε in unit doεage form, compriεing an effective amount of a compound of thiε invention in combination with a conventional pharmaceutical carrier. Aε uεed herein, the term "pharmaceutical carrier" meanε a εolid or liquid filler, diluent or encapεulating material. Some exampleε of the materialε which can εerve aε pharmaceutical carrierε are εugars, such as lactose, glucose and sucrose; starcheε εuch as corn εtarch and potato starch; cellulose and its derivatives such as sodium carboxymethyl cellulose, ethyl cellulose and cellulose acetate; powdered tragacanth; malt; gelatin; talc; excipients such aε cocoa butter and εuppoεitory waxes; oils such peanut oil, cottonseed oil, safflower oil, sesame oil, olive oil, corn oil and soybean oil; polyolε εuch aε propylene glycol, glycerin, εorbitol, mannitol and polyethylene glycol; eεterε εuch aε ethyl oleate and ethyl laurate; agar; buffering agentε εuch as magnesium hydroxide and aluminum hydroxide; alginic acid; pyrogen-free water; isotonic εaline; Ringer's solution, ethyl alcohol and phoεphate buffer solutions, as well as other non-toxic compatible substances used in pharmaceutical formulationε. Wetting agentε, emulεifiers and lubricants εuch aε εodium lauryl εulfate and magneεium stearate, aε well as coloring agents, release agents, coating agentε, and perfuming agentε and preεervativeε can alεo be present in the compoεitionε, according to the deεireε of the formulator. The amount of active ingredient that may be combined with the carrier materialε to produce a εingle doεage form will vary depending upon the host treated and the particular mode of administration. By "therapeutically effective amount" herein iε meant an amount of either polypeptide or combination thereof εufficient to provide antimicrobial activity εo as to alleviate or prevent infection by susceptible organismε in the human or lower animal being treated at a reaεonable benefit/riεk ratio attendant with any medical treatment. Antifungal Testing The antifungal activity of co poundε εyntheεized in accord with this invention waε meaεured uεing art-recognized methods, aε deεcribed in Duvick et al., J. Biol. Chem. 26:18814-18820 (1992) againεt Aspergillus flavus, S. sclerotiorum, Fuεarium graminearum and F. moniliforme. Results are shown in Figures 1 through 4. In Figure 1, the curves are labeled according to their SEQUENCE I.D. Nos., with the exception of the curve labeled "10," which reflects the performance of a crude mixture of correctly and incorrectly folded compounds, including some quantity of the compound having SEQUENCE I.D. No. 2. The two curves labeled "1" and "la" repreεent reεultε obtained with natural and synthetic hordothionin, respectively, both having the sequence shown in SEQUENCE I.D. No. 1. In Figures 2 through 4, the curveε labeled aε "1" and "la" again repreεent reεultε obtained with natural and synthetic hordothionin, respectively, both having the εequence shown in SEQUENCE I.D. No. 1. The curves for other derivatives are labeled according to the SEQUENCE I.D. No. of the derivative. SEQUENCE LISTING (1) GENERAL INFORMATION: (i) APPLICANT: Rao, A. Gururaj ; Beach, Larry (ii) TITLE OF INVENTION: HIGH LYSINE DERIVATIVES OF α- HORDOTHIONIN (iii) NUMBER OF SEQUENCES: 9 (iv) CORRESPONDENCE ADDRESS: (A) ADDRESSEE: Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. (B) STREET: 700 Capital Square, 400 Locust Street Des Moines Iowa United States 50309 (v) COMPUTER READABLE FORM: (A) MEDIUM TYPE: Diskette, 3.5 inch, 1.44 Mb storage (B) COMPUTER: IBM Compatible (C) OPERATING SYSTEM: MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows (D) SOFTWARE: Microsoft Windows Notepad (vi) CURRENT APPLICATION DATA: (A) APPLICATION NUMBER: (B) FILING DATE: (C) CLASSIFICATION: (vii) PRIOR APPLICATION DATA: (A) APPLICATION NUMBER: (B) FILING DATE: (viii) ATTORNEY/AGENT INFORMATION: (A) NAME: Roth, Michael J. (B) REGISTRATION NUMBER: 29,342 (C) REFERENCE/DOCKET NUMBER: 0233 US (ix) TELECOMMUNICATION INFORMATION: (A) TELEPHONE: (515) 245-3594 (B) TELEFAX: (515) 245-3634 (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO: 1: (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS: (A) LENGTH: 45 amino acids (B) TYPE: amino acid (C) STRANDEDNESS: εingle (D) TOPOLOGY: linear (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: protein (A) DESCRIPTION: hordothionin (iϋ) HYPOTHETICAL: No (iv) ANTI-SENSE: NO (v) FRAGMENT TYPE : (vi) ORIGINAL SOURCE: (A) ORGANISM: Hordeum vulgare (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO: 1: Lys Ser Cyε Cyε Arg Ser Thr Leu Gly Arg 5 10 Aεn Cyε Tyr Aεn Leu Cyε Arg Val Arg Gly 15 20 Ala Gin Lys Leu Cys Ala Gly Val Cyε Arg 25 30 Cys Lys Leu Thr Ser Ser Gly Lys Cys Pro 35 40 Thr Gly Phe Pro Lys 45 [2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO: 2: (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS: (A) LENGTH: 45 amino acidε (B) TYPE: amino acid (C) STRANDEDNESS: εingle (D) TOPOLOGY: linear (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: protein (A) DESCRIPTION: hordothionin derivative (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO: 2: Lys Ser Cyε Cyε Lyε Ser Thr Leu Gly Lyε 5 10 Asn Cys Tyr Aεn Leu Cyε Lys Val Lys Gly 15 20 Ala Gin Lys Leu Cyε Ala Gly Val Cyε Lyε 25 30 Cys Lys Leu Thr Ser Ser Gly Lys Cys Pro 35 40 Thr Gly Phe Pro Lys 45 (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO: 3: (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS: (A) LENGTH: 45 amino acids (B) TYPE: amino acid (C) STRANDEDNESS: single (D) TOPOLOGY: linear (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: protein (A) DESCRIPTION: hordothionin derivative (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO: 3: Lyε Ser Cyε Cyε Lys Ser Thr Leu Gly Arg 5 10 Aεn Cyε Tyr Aεn Leu Cyε Lyε Val Lys Gly 15 20 Ala Gin Lys Leu Cys Ala Gly Val Cys Lys 25 30 Cys Lys Leu Thr Ser Ser Gly Lys Cys Pro 35 40 Thr Gly Phe Pro Lys 45 (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO: 4: (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS: (A) LENGTH: 45 amino acidε (B) TYPE: amino acid (C) STRANDEDNESS: εingle (D) TOPOLOGY: linear (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: protein (A) DESCRIPTION: hordothionin derivative (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO: 4: Lys Ser Cyε Cyε Lys Ser Thr Leu Gly Arg 5 10 Aεn Lys Tyr Asn Leu Cys Lys Val Lys Gly 15 20 Ala Gin Lys Leu Cyε Ala Gly Val Thr Lys 25 30 Cys Lyε Leu Thr Ser Ser Gly Lys Cys Pro 35 40 Thr Gly Phe Pro Lys 45 (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO: 5: (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS: (A) LENGTH: 45 amino acids (B) TYPE: amino acid (C) STRANDEDNESS: εingle (D) TOPOLOGY: linear (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: protein (A) DESCRIPTION: hordothionin derivative (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO: 5: Lys Ser Cyε Cyε Lys Ser Thr Leu Gly Arg 5 10 Lys Lys Tyr Aεn Leu Cyε Lys Val Lyε Gly 15 20 Ala Lys Lyε Leu Cyε Ala Gly Val Thr Lys 25 30 Cys Lyε Leu Thr Ser Ser Gly Lys Cys Pro 35 40 Lys Gly Phe Pro Lys 45 (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO: 6: (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS: (A) LENGTH: 45 amino acidε (B) TYPE: amino acid (C) STRANDEDNESS: εingle (D) TOPOLOGY: linear (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: protein (A) DESCRIPTION: hordothionin derivative (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO: 6: Lys Asp Cys Cys Lys Ser Thr Leu Gly Lys 5 10 Lys Lys Tyr Asn Leu Cyε Lys Val Lys Gly 15 20 Ala Lys Lyε Leu Cyε Ala Gly Val Thr Lys 25 30 Cyε Lys Leu Thr Ser Ser Gly Lys Cyε Pro 35 40 Lys Gly Phe Pro Lys 45 (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO: 7: (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS: (A) LENGTH: 45 amino acids (B) TYPE: amino acid (C) STRANDEDNESS: εingle (D) TOPOLOGY: linear (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: protein (A) DESCRIPTION: hordothionin derivative (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO: 7: Lys Ser Cyε Cyε Lys Ser Thr Leu Gly Arg 5 10 Lys Cyε Tyr Aεn Leu Cyε Lys Val Lys Gly 15 20 Ala Gin Lys Leu Cyε Ala Gly Val Cyε Lyε 25 30 Cyε Lyε Leu Thr Ser Ser Gly Lys Cys Pro 35 40 Lys Gly Phe Pro Lys 45 (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO: 8: (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS: (A) LENGTH: 45 amino acids (B) TYPE: amino acid (C) STRANDEDNESS: single (D) TOPOLOGY: linear (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: protein (A) DESCRIPTION: hordothionin derivative (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO: 8: Lys Ser Cys Cyε Lys Ser Thr Leu Gly Arg 5 10 Lys Cys Tyr Asn Leu Cys Lys Val Lyε Gly 15 20 Ala Lys Lys Leu Cyε Ala Gly Val Cyε Lys 25 30 Cys Lys Leu Thr Ser Ser Gly Lys Cys Pro 35 40 Lyε Gly Phe Pro Lys 45 (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO: 9: (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS: (A) LENGTH: 45 amino acidε (B) TYPE: amino acid (C) STRANDEDNESS: εingle (D) TOPOLOGY: linear (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: protein (A) DESCRIPTION: hordothionin derivative (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO: 9: Lyε Xaa Cyε Cyε Xaa Ser Thr Leu Gly Xaa 5 10 Xaa Xaa Tyr Asn Leu Cys Xaa Val Xaa Gly 15 20 Ala Lyε Xaa Leu Cyε Ala Gly Val Xaa Xaa 25 30 Cyε Xaa Leu Thr Ser Ser Gly Xaa Cys Pro 35 40 Thr Gly Phe Pro Xaa 45

Claims: WHAT IS CLAIMED IS: 1. A protein having the εequence of SEQUENCE I.D. No. 9 wherein the amino acid reεidueε at one or more of poεitions 5, 10, 11, 12, 17, 19, 22, 30 and 41 are lysine, and the remainder of the residueε at thoεe poεitions are the residues at the corresponding positionε in SEQUENCE I.D. No. 1, provided that the residue at position 30 is threonine when the reεidue at poεition 12 iε lyεine and cyεteine otherwiεe, and the reεidue at poεition 2 iε aεpartic acid when the residue at poεition 10 is lysine and serine otherwise. 2. A protein according to Claim 1 wherein one or more of the the amino acid residueε at poεitionε 5, 11, 12, 17, 19, 22 and 41 are lyεine. 3. A protein according to Claim 2 wherein all of the amino acid reεidueε at poεitionε 5, 11, 12, 17, 19, 22 and 41 are lysine. 4. A nucleotide εequence which codeε for a protein according to Claim 1. 5. An RNA εequence according to Claim 4. 6. A DNA εequence according to Claim 4. 7. An expreεεion caεεette containing the DNA εequence of claim 6 operably linked to plant regulatory εequenceε which cauεe the expreεεion of the DNA εequence in plant cells. 8. A bacterial transformation vector comprising an expresεion caεεette according to Claim 7, operably linked to bacterial expreεεion regulatory εequenceε which cauεe replication of the expreεεion caεεette in bacterial cellε. 9. Bacterial cells containing as a foreign plasmid at least one copy of a bacterial transformation vector according to Claim 8. 10. Transformed plant cells containing at least one copy of the expresεion caεεette of Claim 7. 11. Tranεformed cellε according to Claim 10, further characterized in being cellε of a monocotyledonouε εpecieε. 12. Tranεformed cells according to Claim 11, further characterized in being maize, sorghum, wheat or rice cells. 13. Transformed cells according to Claim 10, further characterized in being cells of a dicotyledonouε species. 14. Tranεformed cellε according to Claim 13, further characterized in being soybean, alfalfa, rapeseed, εunflower, tobacco or tomato cellε. 15. A maize cell or tiεεue culture compriεing cells according to claim 12. 16. A transformed plant compriεing tranεformed cellε according to Claim 10. 17. A method for killing and inhibiting plant pathogenic microorganisms which are εuεceptible to a-Hordothionin compriεing introducing into the environment of the pathogenic microorganiεmε an antimicrobial amount of a protein according to Claim 1. 18. A method for killing and inhibiting plant pathogens εelected from Fuεarium graminearum, Fuεarium moniliforme, Diplodia maydiε, Colletototrichum graminicola, Verticillium alboatrum, Phytophthora megaεpermae f.εp. glycinea, Macrophomina phaεeolina, Diaporthe phaεeolorum caulivora, Sclerotinia εclerotiorum, Sclerotinia trifoliorum, and Aεpergilluε flavuε, compriεing introducing into the environment of the pathogenic microorganiεms an antimicrobial amount of a protein according to Claim 1. 19. A method according to Claim 17 wherein the environment of the pathogen iε the tissueε of a living plant. 20. A method for enhancing the lyεine content of a plant cell or seed comprising the step of cauεing a protein according to Claim 1 to be expreεεed in the cell or εeed. 21. A method for enhancing the lysine content of a plant compriεing the εtep of cauεing a protein according to claim 1 to be expreεεed in tiεεues of the plant.

Inventors: BEACH LARRY R, RAO A GURURAJ, BEACH, LARRY, R., RAO, A., GURURAJ
Applicants: PIONEER HI BRED INT, PIONEER HI-BRED INTERNATIONAL, INC.
Application year: 1994
Main classification: C12N15
IPC codes: A01N65, C07K14, C12N1, C12N15